Question

Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be. Places of business that used to keep daytime “business hours” are now open late into the night. And on the Internet, the hour of the day and the day of the week have become irrelevant （不相关的）. A half century ago in the United States, most people experienced strong and precise dividing lines between days of rest and days of work, school time and summer time. Today the boundaries still exist, but they seem not clear.

The law in almost all states used to require stores to close on Sunday; in most, it no longer does. It used to keep the schools open in all seasons except summer; in most, it still does. And whether the work week should strengthen its legal limits, or whether it should become more “flexible,” is often debated. How should we, as a society, organize our time? Should we go even further in relaxing the boundaries of  time until we live in a world in which every minute is much like every other?

These are not easy questions even to ask. Part of the difficulty is that we rarely recognize the “law of time” even when we meet it face to face. We know as children that we have to attend school a certain number of hours, a certain number of days, a certain number of years—but unless we meet the truant officer （学监）, we may well think that we should go to school due to social custom and parents’ demand rather than to the law. As adults we are familiar with “extra pay for overtime working,” but less familiar with the fact that what constitutes （构成） “overtime” is a matter of legal definition. When we turn the clock forward to start daylight-saving time, have we ever thought to ourselves: “Here is the law in action”? As we shall see, there is a lot of law that has great influence on how we organize and use time: compulsory education law, overtime law, and daylight-saving law — as well as law about Sunday closing, holidays, being late to work, time zones, and so on. Once we begin to look for it, we will have no trouble finding a law of time to examine and assess.

By saying “Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be”, the writer means that_____ .

A. work time is equal to rest time

B. many people have a day off on Monday

C. it is hard for people to decide when to rest

D. the line between work time and rest time is unclear

The author raises the questions in Paragraph 2 to introduce the fact that people

A. fail to make full use of their time               B. enjoy working overtime for extra pay

C. are unaware of the law of time                   D. welcome flexible working hours

According to the passage, most children tend to believe that they go to school because they ______.

A. need to acquire knowledge                          B. have to obey their parents

C. need to find companions                             D. have to observe the law

What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Our life is governed by the law of time.

B. How to organize time is not worth debating.

C. New ways of using time change our society.

D. Our time schedule is decided by social customs.

Answer 1

【小题1】D

【小题2】C

【小题3】B

【小题4】A

解析:

【小题1】细节理解题。根据第1段Today the boundaries still exist, but they seem not clear.说明工作和休息的分界线现在变得不明显了，故选择D。A“工作时间与休息时间相等”，B“很多人在星期一休息”，C“人们很难判断在什么时候休息”都与真实含义不符。

【小题2】推理判断题。根据第2段描述，作者提出这样的问题是想说明人们不清楚时间规律，而并非“不能充分利用时间”、“喜欢工作以得到额外报酬”或“欢迎富有弹性的工作时间”。

【小题3】推理判断题。根据第3段…we should go to school due to social custom and parents’ demand rather than to the law可知学生们认为上学是迫于社会习惯或家长的要求而不是出于时间规律，应选择B。

【小题4】主旨大意题。本文探讨了时间规律的变化以及由此带来的人们生活起居、工作学习的变化。因此选择A“我们的生活有时间规律掌控”符合文章主题。B“怎样安排时间不值得讨论”，C“利用时间的新方法改变了我们社会”，D“我们的时间日程由社会习惯决定”都不合文章主题或表达不正确。